RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol 2, No. 222, 17 November 1998
HUNGARIAN, SLOVAK FOREIGN MINISTERS MEET IN ROME. Janos
Martonyi and Eduard Kukan said in Rome on 16 November that
they believe the Gabcikovo-Nagymaros hydropower dam dispute
can be resolved through a bilateral agreement, Hungarian
media reported. The two foreign ministers agreed that on 27
November, the countries' expert teams will discuss in
Bratislava the implementation of the International Court of
Justice's ruling on the issue. Martonyi and Kukan also agreed
on a document detailing the implementation mechanism for the
bilateral basic treaty, which they will sign on 24 November
in Bratislava (see also "RFE/RL Newsline," 16 November 1998).
MS
HUNGARIAN FINANCE MINISTER PRESENTS DRAFT BUDGET. "Hungary
will become one of the fastest developing economies in the
world next year," Finance Minister Zsigmond Jarai told the
parliament on 16 November while presenting the 1999 draft
budget. That draft focuses on child benefits, housing,
education, culture, public safety, urban development, and
accession to NATO and EU. Jarai said it is designed to reduce
the deficit from nearly 5 percent of the GDP this year to
3.95 percent in 1999. MSZ
U.S. TO AID DEVELOPMENT OF EASTERN HUNGARY. U.S. Ambassador
Peter Tufo announced on 16 November that his embassy plans to
open an office in Debrecen within a few months to help the
economic development of eastern Hungary "by all possible
means." The US-Eastern Hungary Partnership Program office
will replace the USAID program set up in 1991, which is
pulling out of the country because "Hungary succeeded," Tufo
said. MSZ
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RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol 2, No. 223, 18 November 1998
HUNGARIAN PARTIES DISAGREE OVER 1999 BUDGET. "The legacy
bequeathed by the previous government will cost the 1999
budget some 200-300 billion forints ($1-1.5 billion)," Jozsef
Szajer, the leader of the coalition Federation of Young
Democrats-Hungarian Civic Party's parliamentary group, told
the parliament on 17 November. He said this legacy includes,
among others things, the Postabank deficit and secret clauses
in privatization contracts. Opposition Socialist Party caucus
leader Laszlo Kovacs said that revenues have been
overestimated in the draft budget. Gabor Kuncze, Free
Democrat parliamentary group leader, said his party will not
vote for the budget, and he attacked the cabinet's social
policy, the postponement of judicial reform, and the freezing
of civil servants' wages. MSZ
DISPUTE CONTINUES OVER ROMANIAN EDUCATION LAW. The Chamber of
Deputies on 17 November voted to change the regulation
amending the 1994 education law after the opposition had
walked out during the debate that preceded the vote. The
chamber rejected an amendment submitted by Victor Ciorbea's
cabinet in early 1997, an amendment approved by the Senate in
late 1997, and a recommendation by its own Higher Education
Commission. Under the amended regulation, the law makes no
mention whatsoever of university instruction in the languages
of national minorities. The Senate's version of the law says
that such instruction can be provided only by special
sections within existing universities, while the commission
recommended that such sections be allowed only in
"multicultural universities." The chamber's version, which
was approved despite objections by the Hungarian Democratic
Federation of Romania, says multicultural universities must
have Romanian sections. The chamber's and the Senate's
versions of the law are to be debated by a mediation
commission of the two houses. MS
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Copyright (c) 1998 RFE/RL, Inc.
All rights reserved.
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